El Paso County Commissioners Court adopted a 2-cent tax increase

$20 more a year for a $100,000 property

El Paso County Commissioners Court on Monday adopted a 2-cent increase to the property tax rate.

A new tax rate of 43 cents per $100 property valuation means $20.47 more a year in property taxes for a home valued at $100,000. The average home value in the county is about $117,000.

The tax increase will help fund employees' salary increases of 4.2 percent, replace a federal grant that the Sheriff's office lost and pay for legal fees and inmate health services, among other necessary expenses, county officials said.

The tax rate increase is part of the upcoming fiscal budget. The court is looking at a $243.9 million budget - $13.1 million or 5.7 percent more from the current budget. The court has until Oct. 7 to pass the 2014 fiscal budget. The county's tax bill accounts for about 15 percent of a property owner's total tax bill.

During Monday's regular meeting, commissioners decided between two scenarios: One was to vote on a 1-cent increase to the county's current effective tax rate of 41.3 cents per $100 valuation with a 13.5 percent reserve balance and the other was to approve a 2-cent increase to the tax rate and maintain a fund balance at 15 percent.

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A motion to approve the 1-cent tax increase with 13.5 percent in reserves failed when Commissioner Vince Perez abstained from the vote, Commissioner Carlos Leon voted for it, and County Judge Veronica Escobar and Commissioners Patrick "Pat" Abeln and Sergio Lewis voted against it.

The 2-cent tax increased was supported by Escobar, Abeln and Perez.

They considered that using money from the county's savings account to pay for increases in the budget this year could result in a higher tax rate next year.

The auditors office is projecting a $8 million increase already for the 2015 fiscal budget.

Abeln said the 2-cent tax increase was the most "prudent thing to do in the long run."

"It's so easy for me to lower the rate and we would just be fooling the public for a year and next year would be something that none of us would want to deal with," he told the court.

Escobar said that all the increases in the budget that the county is dealing with are mandated services.

In addition, as part of the proposed 2014 fiscal budget, the court approved $250,000 to perform a study to compare the cost between building a new jail and remodeling the existing facility.

She said the county has huge challenges in the future, including the renegotiation of the Sheriff's union contract.

"That contract has been the equivalent of a 1-cent tax increase each year and we have to look very closely at what we can afford going forward and work in good faith with everyone involved so that we do the best thing for all parties," she said.

Commissioners Court also approved an operational budget of $486 million and a capital budget of about $12.6 million for El Paso County Hospital District and adopted a 2.1 cent increase to the hospital district's current tax rate of 19.2 cents per $100 property valuation.

The increase was necessary to support the $152 million bond issue approved by commissioners in April to build primary care clinics throughout the community and to renovate several floors at the University Medical Center.

The vote to increase the tax rate for the hospital district passed 4-1.

Commissioner Sergio Lewis was the only member of the court voting against the tax hike and was consistent with his vote in April against certificates of obligation for the construction of the clinics.

"I support the clinics but I did not support the process," Lewis said.

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